player

team

Competition

The main basis of the study is focused on the transfer dealings that have been carried out across Europe in the past six seasons. After reviewing thousands of deals, KPMG's Sports Advisory practice devised a clear model by which one can identify and measure the most common factors that can affect the increase or decrease of the value of any given player.

Disciplinary actions (i.e. number of fouls, number of red and yellow cards);

Assessment of the player's performance with his national team (e.g. number of international matches, international goals);

Assessment of the player's media and commercial potential (if significant);

Team performance and characteristics: sporting results, league competitiveness, economic and financial aspects of the club, etc.;

Team dependence: evaluation of the importance of a given player in his playing team;

Timing of player's transfer and economic profiles of potential recruiting and selling clubs.

And so having corroborated all the results for the top players on the continent, the financial firm released their rankings of the most valuable European based players in the game at present. French giants Paris Saint Germain boast the top two players on the list; Neymar is number one with a value of £206.5million, while French sensation Kylian Mbappé is close behind with a value of £193.8m. Argentine Lionel Messi joins the PSG duo in the top three, as he is estimated to be worth £183.2m in today's market.

Further down the list, Liverpool's Mohammed Salah is the Premier League's top export, with a worth of £151.6m; this keeps him above the likes of Tottenham striker Harry Kane (£136.1m), Chelsea's Eden Hazard (£133.5m) and Manchester City's Kevin De Bruyne (£116.6m). Following on from this are French World Cup champions Antoine Griezmann (£113.2m) and Paul Pogba (£107.5m).

Astonishingly, Juventus and Portugal talisman Cristiano Ronaldo sits outside of the top ten. The forward's value is estimated as £96.5m, which is just under ten million more than what the Turin team paid Real Madrid for him in the summer. It is thought that Ronaldo's age, he is due to turn 34 in February, is the key reason for him not being placed higher in the rankings.